Mathiesen et al. / MULTIDIMENSIONAL ADOLESCENT ASSESSMENT SCALE
27
college. In future studies, these subscales require additional examination to
determine if they are valid and reliable measures of these constructs.
Another limitation of this study is that it used a convenience-sampling
strategy. Related to this is the issue of ethnicity, as this sample is predomi-
nately White. The constructs being measured in the MAAS may have cultural
implications that do not address or take into account cultural diversity. Future
studies with randomly drawn, diverse samples would help to address these
potential differences. As noted throughout, clinical and nonclinical random
samples are needed to aid in the validation process of the MAAS.
The MAAS provides a reliable and valid method of measuring multiple
domains of functioning. As this initial validation study has noted, there are
some subscales that require additional development. Practitioners and
researchers should feel confident that the scale, taken as a whole, performs as
intended but should cautiously interpret the subscale scores for depression
and school problems. One recommendation in using this scale with either a
clinical or nonclinical population is to use the scores as guides, rather than as
diagnostics. The MAAS should guide the practitioner in determining areas
that require additional assessment and possible referrals. The MAAS pro-
vides similar reliability coefficients as the well-established Child Depression
Inventory and the CBCL. It assesses multiple constructs and was designed to
address problems in 16 areas of the social and personal functioning of client
populations often seen by social workers. Furthermore, the MAAS is moder-
ate in cost, convenient to administer, and may be either hand scored or placed
in a spreadsheet for the simple computation of the scores. The MAAS pro-
vides a significant advance in tools for use by social workers.
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